access
|
→Further reading: Why was that missing from the memoirs category?
|
||
(27 intermediate revisions by 15 users not shown) | |||
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|none}} |
|||
⚫ |
[[File:Recollections of Full Years (Helen Taft).jpg|thumb| |
||
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}} |
|||
{{short description|Wikimedia list article}} |
|||
{{Featured list}} |
|||
⚫ |
Thirteen [[ |
||
⚫ | [[File:Recollections of Full Years (Helen Taft).jpg|thumb|alt=A book title page reading "Recollections of Full Years by Mrs. William Howard Taft with numerous illustrations; New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1914"|Title page of ''[[Recollections of Full Years]]'' by [[Helen Taft]]]] |
||
⚫ | Thirteen [[first ladies of the United States]] have written a total of twenty-two memoirs. The first lady is the hostess of the [[White House]], and the position is traditionally filled by the wife of the [[president of the United States]], with some historical exceptions. Every memoir by a first lady published in the 20th and 21st centuries has been a bestseller, at times outselling those of their presidential husbands.<ref name="NYTIMES">{{cite news|last=Fehrman|first=Craig|title=First Lady Lit|date=May 21, 2010|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/books/review/Fehrman-t.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 30, 2015|archive-date=April 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403124750/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/books/review/Fehrman-t.html|url-status=live}}.</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Sánchez|first=Bianca|date=November 13, 2018|title=The History of First Ladies' Memoirs|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/history-first-ladies-memoirs-180970797/|access-date=November 20, 2020|website=[[Smithsonian Magazine]]|language=en|archive-date=November 29, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129023005/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/history-first-ladies-memoirs-180970797/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
||
|
In the early 1800s, [[Abigail Adams]] had her correspondence published as ''[[Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams]]'', and [[Louisa Adams]] "made several attempts at an autobiography", though she never sought to publish them.<ref name="NYTIMES" /> The ''Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison, Wife of James Madison, President of the United States'' were published in 1886 but were actually edited by Lucia Cutts and written by [[Dolley Madison]]'s niece [[Mary Cutts]].{{NoteTag|According to Stuart Leibiger, "Many historians (including myself) have cited the ''Memoirs and Letters of Dolly Madison: Wife of James Madison, President of the United States'' [...] without realizing that the volume was actually written by Dolley's niece, Mary Estelle Elizabeth Cutts, and published without attribution."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Leibiger|first=Stuart|date=June 2014|title=The Queen of America: Mary Cutts's Life of Dolley Madison.|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psq.12125|journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly|language=en|volume=44|issue=2|pages=376–377|doi=10.1111/psq.12125}}</ref> }}<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Anthony|first=Carl|date=May 18, 2016|title=First Ladies as Author|url=http://www.firstladies.org/blog/first-ladies-as-author/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129141221/http://www.firstladies.org/blog/first-ladies-as-author/|archive-date=November 29, 2020|access-date=November 21, 2020|website=[[The National First Ladies' Library]]}}</ref> |
||
[[Julia Grant]] was the first to write and attempt to publish her memoirs, writing ''[[The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant]]'' in the 1890s after the death of her husband |
[[Julia Grant]] was the first to write and attempt to publish her memoirs, writing ''[[The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant]]'' in the 1890s after the death of her husband [[Ulysses S. Grant]]. However, she never found a suitable publisher for them before her death in 1902, in part because she had unrealistic expectations of their value. The memoirs were eventually published in 1975.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant|url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-personal-memoirs-of-julia-dent-grant.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127154048/https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-personal-memoirs-of-julia-dent-grant.htm|archive-date=November 27, 2020|access-date=November 20, 2020|website=[[National Park Service]]|language=en}}</ref> [[Helen Taft]] was the first to have memoirs published during her lifetime, in 1914.<ref name="NYTIMES" /> Memoirs by presidential spouses were uncommon until the 1970s; in the decades after Taft, only [[Edith Wilson]], [[Grace Coolidge]], [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], and [[Lady Bird Johnson]] wrote and published their memoirs.<ref name=":0" /> Coolidge had her memoirs published in the 1930s as several articles in ''[[The American Magazine]]''.<ref name=":3" /> Most first ladies have written and published at least one memoir about their life since [[Betty Ford]]'s publication of her first memoir in the late 1970s.<ref name=":0" /> |
||
Early published memoirs focused on relatively trivial matters |
Early published memoirs focused on relatively trivial matters, often largely focusing on the first lady's personal life. Helen Taft's memoirs were described by ''[[The New York Sun]]'' as "bright, witty, delightfully entertaining reminiscences" upon publication, and Edith Wilson's ''[[My Memoir]]'' was criticized by contemporary reviewers such as ''[[The New York Times]]'' for excessively focusing on clothing and social events.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=March 12, 1939|title=The Memoirs of Mrs. Wilson|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/03/12/95763426.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=2021-08-19|website=The New York Times|language=en}}</ref> Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote four autobiographies, marked a shift in the content of the memoirs, writing more about political issues and less on her personal life. Lady Bird Johnson condensed a dictated two-million-word transcript into 300,000 for ''[[A White House Diary]]'', which outsold her husband [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]'s memoir.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|date=November 12, 2018|last=Brockell|first=Gillian|title=Julia Grant couldn't find a publisher for her memoir. Michelle Obama got paid millions for hers.|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/11/12/julia-grant-couldnt-find-publisher-her-memoir-michelle-obama-got-paid-millions-hers/|access-date=November 20, 2020|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=November 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201122154447/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2018/11/12/julia-grant-couldnt-find-publisher-her-memoir-michelle-obama-got-paid-millions-hers/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1960s [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis]] was involved in editing two books by [[Molly Thayer]], ''Jacqueline Kennedy'' and ''Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years.''<ref name=":3" /> |
||
Memoirs written by Betty Ford, [[Rosalynn Carter]] and Barbara Bush also outsold the memoirs of their husbands.<ref name="NYTIMES"/> [[My Turn (memoir)| |
Memoirs written by Betty Ford, [[Rosalynn Carter]] and [[Barbara Bush]] also outsold the memoirs of their husbands.<ref name="NYTIMES"/> ''[[My Turn (memoir)|My Turn]]'' by [[Nancy Reagan]], published in 1989, was nicknamed ''My Burn'' for its "vengeful" coverage of Reagan's life, particularly in the White House. The book sold very well, remaining on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]] for more than three months.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fehrman|first=Craig|date=2012|title=Reagan and the Rise of the Blockbuster Political Memoir|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23249745|journal=[[American Literary History]]|volume=24|issue=3|pages=468–490|doi=10.1093/alh/ajs031|issn=0896-7148|jstor=23249745|access-date=May 20, 2021}}</ref> [[Michelle Obama]]'s memoir ''[[Becoming (book)|Becoming]]'' was published in 2018. She received over $60 million in advance of publication, and the book had sold over 11.5 million copies {{as of|2019|11|lc=y}}.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Michelle Obama's book is set to become the best-selling memoir in history|date=March 27, 2019|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/michelle-obama-s-book-set-become-best-selling-memoir-history-n987801|access-date=November 20, 2020|agency=[[Reuters]]|via=[[NBC News]]|language=en|archive-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125025426/https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/michelle-obama-s-book-set-become-best-selling-memoir-history-n987801|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=November 19, 2019|title=Michelle Obama signs 'Becoming' copies on book's anniversary|url=https://apnews.com/article/2faae2dd1741400686763c0ec4967203|access-date=November 20, 2020|website=[[Associated Press]]|last=Superville|first=Darlene|archive-date=May 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518134151/https://apnews.com/article/2faae2dd1741400686763c0ec4967203|url-status=live}}</ref> There has been speculation that [[Melania Trump]] is writing a memoir or in talks to do so.<ref>{{Cite web|date=December 1, 2020|title=Operation Rebrand Melania: What can we expect from the first lady's rumoured memoir?|first=Arwa|last=Mahdawi|url=http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/01/operation-rebrand-melania-trump-what-can-we-expect-first-lady-rumoured-memoir|access-date=May 17, 2021|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en|archive-date=May 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517045150/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/01/operation-rebrand-melania-trump-what-can-we-expect-first-lady-rumoured-memoir|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Melania Trump 'in discussions about writing her own memoir'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/melania-trump-memoir-book-b1763331.html|access-date=May 17, 2021|website=[[The Independent]]|last=Zoellner|first=Danielle|date=November 28, 2020|language=en|archive-date=May 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517013502/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/melania-trump-memoir-book-b1763331.html|url-status=live}}</ref> |
||
== |
== Memoirs == |
||
{| class="wikitable sortable" |
{| class="wikitable sortable" |
||
⚫ | |||
|- |
|- |
||
! scope="col" | Title |
! scope="col" | Title |
||
! scope="col" | First lady |
! scope="col" | First lady |
||
! scope="col" | Publisher |
! scope="col" | Publisher |
||
! scope="col" | |
! scope="col" | Year |
||
! scope="col" class=unsortable |Identifier |
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Identifier |
||
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Note |
! scope="col" class="unsortable" |Note |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |{{sort|Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant|''[[ |
| scope="row" |{{sort|Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant|''[[Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant]]''}}|| {{sortname|Julia|Grant}} || [[Putnam Publishing Group]] || 1975 || {{ISBN|978-0-399-11386-4}}<br />{{OCLC|1362819}} |
||
|{{NoteTag|Grant tried but was unable to secure a publisher for her memoirs during her lifetime.<ref name=":1"/>}} |
|{{NoteTag|Grant tried but was unable to secure a publisher for her memoirs during her lifetime.<ref name=":1"/>}} |
||
|- |
|- |
||
Line 43: | Line 44: | ||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''{{sort|Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt|[[The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt]]}}'' || {{sortname|Eleanor|Roosevelt}} || [[Harper & Brothers]] || 1961 ||{{OCLC|241967}} |
| scope="row" |''{{sort|Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt|[[The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt]]}}'' || {{sortname|Eleanor|Roosevelt}} || [[Harper & Brothers]] || 1961 ||{{OCLC|241967}} |
||
|{{NoteTag|Compiled material from her first three autobiographies with additional chapters<ref>{{Cite web|last=Laski|first=Marghanita|date=August 3, 1962|title=Eleanor Roosevelt's autobiography – archive, 1962|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/03/eleanor-roosevelt-autobiography-1962|access-date=November 21, 2020|website=The Guardian|language=en|archive-date=November 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128222716/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/03/eleanor-roosevelt-autobiography-1962|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
|{{NoteTag|Compiled material from her first three autobiographies with additional chapters<ref>{{Cite web|last=Laski|first=Marghanita|date=August 3, 1962|title=Eleanor Roosevelt's autobiography – archive, 1962|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/03/eleanor-roosevelt-autobiography-1962|access-date=November 21, 2020|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en|archive-date=November 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128222716/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/03/eleanor-roosevelt-autobiography-1962|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''{{sort|White House Diary|[[A White House Diary]]}}'' || {{sortname|Lady Bird|Johnson}} || [[Holt, Rinehart & Winston]] || 1970 ||{{ISBN|978-0-03-085254-1}}< |
| scope="row" |''{{sort|White House Diary|[[A White House Diary]]}}'' || {{sortname|Lady Bird|Johnson}} || [[Holt, Rinehart & Winston]] || 1970 ||{{ISBN|978-0-03-085254-1}}<br />{{OCLC|247688211}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''{{sort|Times of My Life|[[The Times of My Life]]}}'' || {{sortname|Betty|Ford}} || [[Harper & Row]] || 1978 || {{ISBN|978-0-06-011298-1}}< |
| scope="row" |''{{sort|Times of My Life|[[The Times of My Life]]}}'' || {{sortname|Betty|Ford}} || [[Harper & Row]] || 1978 || {{ISBN|978-0-06-011298-1}}<br />{{OCLC|1089520085}} |
||
|{{NoteTag|Written with [[Chris Chase]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Howard|first=Jane|date=December 21, 2018|title=Notes From the Book Review Archives|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/books/review/betty-ford-the-times-of-my-life.html|access-date=November 21, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108200904/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/books/review/betty-ford-the-times-of-my-life.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Betty — A Glad Awakening|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/betty-with-chris-chase-ford/betty-a-glad-awakening/|access-date=November 21, 2020|website=Kirkus Reviews|language=en|archive-date=October 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026043947/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/betty-with-chris-chase-ford/betty-a-glad-awakening/|url-status=live}}</ref>|name=ChrisChase}} |
|{{NoteTag|Written with [[Chris Chase]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Howard|first=Jane|date=December 21, 2018|title=Notes From the Book Review Archives|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/books/review/betty-ford-the-times-of-my-life.html|access-date=November 21, 2020|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108200904/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/books/review/betty-ford-the-times-of-my-life.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Betty — A Glad Awakening|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/betty-with-chris-chase-ford/betty-a-glad-awakening/|access-date=November 21, 2020|website=[[Kirkus Reviews]]|language=en|archive-date=October 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026043947/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/betty-with-chris-chase-ford/betty-a-glad-awakening/|url-status=live}}</ref>|name=ChrisChase}} |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[Betty: A Glad Awakening]]'' || {{sortname|Betty|Ford}} || [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] || 1987 || {{ISBN|978-0-385-23502-0}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[Betty: A Glad Awakening]]'' || {{sortname|Betty|Ford}} || [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] || 1987 || {{ISBN|978-0-385-23502-0}}<br />{{OCLC|624464837}} |
||
|{{NoteTag|name=ChrisChase}} |
|{{NoteTag|name=ChrisChase}} |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[First Lady from Plains]]'' || {{sortname|Rosalynn|Carter}} || [[Houghton Mifflin]] || 1984 || {{ISBN|978-0-395-35294-6}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[First Lady from Plains]]'' || {{sortname|Rosalynn|Carter}} || [[Houghton Mifflin]] || 1984 || {{ISBN|978-0-395-35294-6}}<br />{{OCLC|608350043}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life]]'' || {{sortname|Rosalynn|Carter}} || [[Random House]] || 1987 || {{ISBN|978-0-394-55858-5}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life]]'' || {{sortname|Rosalynn|Carter}} || [[Random House]] || 1987 || {{ISBN|978-0-394-55858-5}}<br />{{OCLC|1020180943}} |
||
|{{NoteTag|Written with husband [[Jimmy Carter]]<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Carter|first1=Jimmy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt22h6q6h|title=Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life|last2=Carter|first2=Rosalynn|date=1987|publisher=University of Arkansas Press|jstor=j.ctt22h6q6h|isbn=978-1-55728-388-7|access-date=November 21, 2020|archive-date=May 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190519074335/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt22h6q6h|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
|{{NoteTag|Written with husband [[Jimmy Carter]]<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Carter|first1=Jimmy|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt22h6q6h|title=Everything to Gain: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life|last2=Carter|first2=Rosalynn|date=1987|publisher=[[University of Arkansas Press]]|jstor=j.ctt22h6q6h|isbn=978-1-55728-388-7|access-date=November 21, 2020|archive-date=May 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190519074335/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt22h6q6h|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[Nancy: The Autobiography of America's First Lady]]'' || {{sortname|Nancy|Reagan}} || [[HarperCollins]] || 1980 || {{ISBN|978-0-688-03533-4}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[Nancy: The Autobiography of America's First Lady]]'' || {{sortname|Nancy|Reagan}} || [[HarperCollins]] || 1980 || {{ISBN|978-0-688-03533-4}}<br />{{OCLC|5613799}} |
||
|{{NoteTag|Written with [[Bill Libby]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Quinn|first=Sally|date=May 1, 1980|title=Nancy Reagan On the Road To the Realm|language=en-US| |
|{{NoteTag|Written with [[Bill Libby]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Quinn|first=Sally|date=May 1, 1980|title=Nancy Reagan On the Road To the Realm|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/05/01/nancy-reagan-on-the-road-to-the-realm/65de8bc0-ec7f-426d-b18e-b892beee59a4/|access-date=November 21, 2020|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=August 28, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828142153/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1980/05/01/nancy-reagan-on-the-road-to-the-realm/65de8bc0-ec7f-426d-b18e-b892beee59a4/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" | ''[[My Turn (memoir)|My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan]]'' || {{sortname|Nancy|Reagan}} || [[Random House]] || 1989 || {{ISBN|978-0-394-56368-8}}< |
| scope="row" | ''[[My Turn (memoir)|My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan]]'' || {{sortname|Nancy|Reagan}} || [[Random House]] || 1989 || {{ISBN|978-0-394-56368-8}}<br />{{OCLC|19921006}} |
||
|{{NoteTag|Written with [[William Novak]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-440-20774-0|access-date=November 21, 2020|title=My Turn|website= |
|{{NoteTag|Written with [[William Novak]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-440-20774-0|access-date=November 21, 2020|title=My Turn|website=[[Publishers Weekly]]|archive-date=May 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518004356/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-440-20774-0|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[Barbara Bush: A Memoir]]'' || {{sortname|Barbara|Bush}} || [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] || 1994 || {{ISBN|978-0-02-519635-3}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[Barbara Bush: A Memoir]]'' || {{sortname|Barbara|Bush}} || [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] || 1994 || {{ISBN|978-0-02-519635-3}}<br />{{OCLC|733651482}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[Reflections: Life After the White House]]'' || {{sortname|Barbara|Bush}} || [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] || 2004 || {{ISBN|978-0-7432-5582-0}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[Reflections: Life After the White House]]'' || {{sortname|Barbara|Bush}} || [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] || 2004 || {{ISBN|978-0-7432-5582-0}}<br />{{OCLC|57355785}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[Living History (book)|Living History]]'' || {{sortname|Hillary|Clinton}} || [[Simon & Schuster]] || 2003 || {{ISBN|978-0-7432-2224-2}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[Living History (book)|Living History]]'' || {{sortname|Hillary|Clinton}} || [[Simon & Schuster]] || 2003 || {{ISBN|978-0-7432-2224-2}}<br />{{OCLC|961885123}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[Hard Choices]]'' || {{sortname|Hillary|Clinton}} || [[Simon & Schuster]] || 2014 || {{ISBN|978-1-4767-5144-3}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[Hard Choices]]'' || {{sortname|Hillary|Clinton}} || [[Simon & Schuster]] || 2014 || {{ISBN|978-1-4767-5144-3}}<br />{{OCLC|900303720}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[What Happened (Clinton book)|What Happened]]'' |
| scope="row" |''[[What Happened (Clinton book)|What Happened]]'' |
||
| |
|{{sortname|Hillary|Clinton}} |
||
|[[Simon & Schuster]] |
|[[Simon & Schuster]] |
||
|2017 |
|2017 |
||
|{{ISBN|978-1-5011-7556-5}}< |
|{{ISBN|978-1-5011-7556-5}}<br />{{OCLC|1003606642}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
| scope="row" |''[[Spoken from the Heart]]'' || {{sortname|Laura|Bush}} || [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] || 2010 || {{ISBN|978-1-4391-5520-2}}< |
| scope="row" |''[[Spoken from the Heart]]'' || {{sortname|Laura|Bush}} || [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]] || 2010 || {{ISBN|978-1-4391-5520-2}}<br />{{OCLC|669262090}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
Line 92: | Line 93: | ||
|[[Crown Publishing Group]] |
|[[Crown Publishing Group]] |
||
|2018 |
|2018 |
||
|{{ISBN|978-1-5247-6313-8}}< |
|{{ISBN|978-1-5247-6313-8}}<br />{{OCLC|1079014347}} |
||
| |
| |
||
|- |
|- |
||
Line 99: | Line 100: | ||
|[[Flatiron Books]] |
|[[Flatiron Books]] |
||
|2019 |
|2019 |
||
|{{ISBN|978-1-250-18234-0}}< |
|{{ISBN|978-1-250-18234-0}}<br />{{OCLC|1198401967}} |
||
|{{NoteTag|Published before becoming |
|{{NoteTag|Published before becoming the first lady<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2019/05/07/jill-biden-book-where-light-enters-joe-biden-beau-biden/1119493001/|title=Jill Biden writes of marriage with Joe, 'totally shattering' death of son Beau in new book|last=Jensen|first=Erin|date=May 7, 2019|work=[[USA Today]]|access-date=May 18, 2021|archive-date=June 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630111131/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2019/05/07/jill-biden-book-where-light-enters-joe-biden-beau-biden/1119493001/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
||
|} |
|} |
||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
{{portal|Politics|United States}} |
|||
* [[List of American political memoirs]] |
* [[List of American political memoirs]] |
||
* [[List of autobiographies by presidents of the United States]] |
* [[List of autobiographies by presidents of the United States]] |
||
==Notes and references== |
|||
==Citations== |
|||
===Notes=== |
===Notes=== |
||
{{NoteFoot}} |
{{NoteFoot}} |
||
Line 115: | Line 117: | ||
==Further reading== |
==Further reading== |
||
*{{cite book |title=Inventing a Voice: The Rhetoric of American First Ladies of the Twentieth Century |editor-first=Molly Meijer |editor-last=Wertheimer |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-7425-2971-7}} |
*{{cite book |title=Inventing a Voice: The Rhetoric of American First Ladies of the Twentieth Century |editor-first=Molly Meijer |editor-last=Wertheimer |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-7425-2971-7}} |
||
|
{{US First Ladies}} |
||
⚫ | |||
[[Category:Lists of books|United States First Ladies autobiographies]] |
[[Category:Lists of books|United States First Ladies autobiographies]] |
||
[[Category:American autobiographies]] |
[[Category:American autobiographies| ]] |
||
[[Category:Political autobiographies]] |
[[Category:Political autobiographies| ]] |
||
[[Category:Literature by women]] |
[[Category:Literature by women| ]] |
||
[[Category:American memoirs|first ladies]] |
Thirteen first ladies of the United States have written a total of twenty-two memoirs. The first lady is the hostess of the White House, and the position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, with some historical exceptions. Every memoir by a first lady published in the 20th and 21st centuries has been a bestseller, at times outselling those of their presidential husbands.[1][2]
In the early 1800s, Abigail Adams had her correspondence published as Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams, and Louisa Adams "made several attempts at an autobiography", though she never sought to publish them.[1] The Memoirs and Letters of Dolley Madison, Wife of James Madison, President of the United States were published in 1886 but were actually edited by Lucia Cutts and written by Dolley Madison's niece Mary Cutts.[note 1][4]
Julia Grant was the first to write and attempt to publish her memoirs, writing The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant in the 1890s after the death of her husband Ulysses S. Grant. However, she never found a suitable publisher for them before her death in 1902, in part because she had unrealistic expectations of their value. The memoirs were eventually published in 1975.[5] Helen Taft was the first to have memoirs published during her lifetime, in 1914.[1] Memoirs by presidential spouses were uncommon until the 1970s; in the decades after Taft, only Edith Wilson, Grace Coolidge, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Lady Bird Johnson wrote and published their memoirs.[2] Coolidge had her memoirs published in the 1930s as several articles in The American Magazine.[4] Most first ladies have written and published at least one memoir about their life since Betty Ford's publication of her first memoir in the late 1970s.[2]
Early published memoirs focused on relatively trivial matters, often largely focusing on the first lady's personal life. Helen Taft's memoirs were described by The New York Sun as "bright, witty, delightfully entertaining reminiscences" upon publication, and Edith Wilson's My Memoir was criticized by contemporary reviewers such as The New York Times for excessively focusing on clothing and social events.[6][7] Eleanor Roosevelt, who wrote four autobiographies, marked a shift in the content of the memoirs, writing more about political issues and less on her personal life. Lady Bird Johnson condensed a dictated two-million-word transcript into 300,000 for A White House Diary, which outsold her husband Lyndon B. Johnson's memoir.[6] In the 1960s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was involved in editing two books by Molly Thayer, Jacqueline Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years.[4]
Memoirs written by Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter and Barbara Bush also outsold the memoirs of their husbands.[1] My TurnbyNancy Reagan, published in 1989, was nicknamed My Burn for its "vengeful" coverage of Reagan's life, particularly in the White House. The book sold very well, remaining on The New York Times Best Seller list for more than three months.[6][8] Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming was published in 2018. She received over $60 million in advance of publication, and the book had sold over 11.5 million copies as of November 2019[update].[9][10] There has been speculation that Melania Trump is writing a memoir or in talks to do so.[11][12]